The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is a political, economic, security, and defense organization of countries from the Eurasian region. It was established to promote cooperation, especially in economics, politics, culture, technology, education, and security.
Member States, Observer States, and Dialogue Partners
Member States
It has 10 member-states including China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus. Belarus is the youngest country to join in July 2024. India and Pakistan joined in 2017 followed by Iran which came along in 2023.
Observer States
In addition, Afghanistan and Mongolia are observer states.
Dialogue Partners
Its 14 dialogue partners include countries from East Asia, Europe, and the Middle East such as Cambodia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia. Moreover, SCO summits have guest attendants from the Association of Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN), the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), and Turkmenistan.
Institutional Structure of SCO
SCO’s seven arms act as its legislative and executive bodies which are enumerated below:
- The Council of Heads of State
- The Council of Heads of Government (Prime Ministers)
- The Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs
- Meetings of Heads of Ministries and Agencies
- The Council of National Coordinators
- The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
- The Secretariat based in Beijing
Historical Background
The SCO was born out of the “Shanghai Five” in 2001. Shanghai Five, established in 1996, comprised of China, Russia, and three Central Asian Republics (CARs)—Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. It was formed to enhance confidence-building measures (CBMs) and resolve border disputes. In 2001, Uzbekistan joined the group and Shanghai Five adopted its new identity—the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).
Evolution
SCO expanded membership by welcoming India, Pakistan, Iran, and Belarus, enriching the diversity within. Simultaneously, it transformed itself from a security-centric organization to focusing on wide-ranging areas including regional connectivity, energy security, cultural exchange, and economic cooperation.
In simple words, SCO has expanded its areas of cooperation by putting more emphasis on the tangible initiatives of regional economic cooperation. For instance, SECURE SCO, the theme chosen for SCO Summit 2023 held in India, focused on diverse areas of security, economic cooperation, connectivity, unity, and respect for the environment.
Significance
By landmass and population, SCO is the largest intergovernmental organization functioning as a land bridge between Asia and Europe. Its members are composed of one-fourth of the global and 80% of the Eurasian landmass. Furthermore, SCO represents 40 % of the worldwide population and 30 % of the global GDP.
In addition, the SCO region is rich in natural resources collectively possessing approximately 25% of the world’s oil reserves, over 50% of the world’s gas reserves, 35% of the world’s coal reserves, and roughly 50% of the world’s known uranium reserves. Last but not least, SCO’s significance is bolstered by its four nuclear powers including China, Russia, India, and Pakistan.
Working Principles
Shanghai Spirit and Shanghai Cooperation Organization Charter
Shanghai Spirit outlines the working principles of SCO as follows:
- Mutual trust
- Equality
- Respect for diverse civilizations
- Pursuit of common development
In addition, the SCO Charter outlines its goals to promote regional peace, stability, and prosperity through cooperation in politics, economics, and culture, and a coordinated effort to combat terrorism, extremism, and separatism.
Objectives
1. New Type of International Relations
Developing a democratic and equitable international political order—reflecting the new realities of the 21st century—is a fundamental objective of SCO. The flawed nature of the contemporary global order and the need for reforms is a unanimous objective of all members. In this regard, the SCO aims to promote an international order based on the principles of mutual respect, justice, equality, and mutual benefit.
2. Eradicating the Axis of Evil
A unanimous agreement exists to root out the menace of transnational terrorism, religious extremism, and separatism. Furthermore, sharing intelligence and joint military exercises form another bulwark for rooting out these transnational evils.
3. Economic Cooperation and Regional Connectivity
SCO member states seek to foster bilateral and multilateral economic cooperation through the free flow of goods and services, secure energy supply, and technology transfer through trade, transit routes, and mega projects e.g. the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
4. Promoting People-to-People Contact
SCO seeks to promote cultural exchanges, tourism, and people-to-people contacts to foster good and friendly relations among members.
5. Eliminating Transnational Trafficking
Through effective border control and cooperation, SCO aims to create a conducive environment of economic and social development by rooting out illegal trafficking such as that of arms, drugs, and humans. The objective is to counter smuggling across borders and the free movement of narcotics.
6. Peaceful Settlements of Disputes
One of the major objectives of SCO is to offer its good offices to promote negotiation, mediation, and arbitration to resolve outstanding issues among member states.
“The member‐states should not have an active military conflict, and work towards stabilizing the border regions while building military trust for maintaining peace and stability”.
– SCO Charter, Article 1.
7. Upholding Human Rights
SCO upholds the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights in its ambition to preserve fundamental rights such as self-determination, religious freedom, and free speech.
8. Cooperation with International Organizations
SCO believes in finding global solutions to common problems i.e., climate change by fostering areas of cooperation with international organizations such as the United Nations, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and BRICS Plus.
Achievements
1. Energy Security
To achieve its ambitious target of forming an energy-efficient system and bypassing sanctions on member-states such as Iran; SCO members established the SCO Energy Club in 2013 to foster cooperation among major energy producers and consumers. The Club has supported projects like the Central Asia–China Gas Pipeline. Moreover, China and Russia have also exported nuclear reactors to other member states for producing nuclear energy to meet energy demands.
2. Resolution of Border Disputes
Shanghai Five, a predecessor of the SCO, helped handle the delineation of borders between China and former Soviet states in 1996. The group members also succeeded in hashing out multilateral agreements to resolve border disputes including:
- Treaty on Deepening Military Trust in Border Regions (1996)
- Treaty on Reduction of Military Forces in Border Regions (1997)
- The Belt of Peace and Stability (included 7400 km of Central Asia)
- Treaty on Long-Term Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation (2007)
3. Enhanced Regional Security
SCO is the first international organization to set counter-terrorism as one of its primary targets. At the Shanghai Convention (2001), SCO member states agreed to establish a permanent body called the Regional Anti-Terror Structure (RATS), in 2005, to eliminate threats posed by the Axis of Evil.
The SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group, formed in 2005, aimed to bring stability to a war-torn Afghanistan. In addition, SCO Peace Missions are another huge achievement of in reducing the arms race and countering security threats.
4. Cultural Exchange
Several initiatives such as the Silk Route International Cultural Expo, SCO Cultural Exchange Day, SCO Film Festival, SCO International Arts Festival, and SCO Music Festival have been launched by the organization to strengthen cultural exchange. Moreover, members agreed in 2023 to declare a single city in the SCO countries as the Tourism and Cultural Capital each year to promote tourism.
5. Prevention of Illegal Trafficking
SCO countries unanimously signed the Border Cooperation Agreement (2005) to combat transnational issues including illegal immigration. For instance, Kanal (2006), in an anti-drug trafficking exercise, intercepted 19,285 kilograms of narcotics.
6. Reduced Influence of the West
SCO has played a major role in reducing the influence of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Central Asian countries by offering an alternate bloc for fulfilling economic and security cooperation.
7. Regional Connectivity
SCO member countries have undertaken several mega-projects to enhance regional connectivity such as the Belt and Road Initiative, China-Central Asia-West Asia Corridor, and China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Railway.
8. Economic Development and Cooperation
China floated the idea of an SCO Development Bank in (2006) to give short and long-term credits to developing countries for development projects such as roads, ports, and railways.
Failures
1. Territorial Disputes among Member States
SCO has failed to resolve long-standing territorial disputes among member states including the Kashmir Dispute, China-India border disagreements in Galwan Valley, and Tajikistan-Uzbekistan border issues.
2. Limited Geographical Scope
There is no membership from Africa, Europe, and America in SCO. A narrow focus on Eurasia has stifled its ability to deal with global issues and challenges, for example, climate change and global conflicts. For instance, The United States’ application for observer status was rejected in 2005 demonstrating the SCO’s reluctance to expand the bloc beyond Southern and Central Asia.
3. Lack of Action against Human Rights Violations
Despite upholding human rights as one of the main principles of the SCO Charter, member-states of SCO are accused of human rights violations including repression against Uyghur Muslims by China and denial of right to self-determination to Kashmiris by India.
4. More Rhetoric than Action
The organization has also been criticized for producing more rhetoric than action, as it has not achieved the level of economic cooperation seen in organizations like ASEAN or the European Union.
“Russia-China competition and an expanded membership have turned the Eurasian security grouping into little more than a talking shop”.
5. Fears of China’s Dominance
Citing concerns about potential Chinese financial dominance, Russia opposed the proposal of setting up a free trade zone and a development fund between the member countries to boost economic cooperation
6. Non-cooperation on Security Among Members
Moreover, SCO member states accused each other of sponsoring terrorism against the other. For example, India has financed terror activities of the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) through covert means that have estranged bilateral relations and endangered regional peace and stability.
Challenges
A peaceful regional environment is formidable for promoting economic cooperation and regional connectivity among the SCO member states. However, several strategic challenges obstruct SCO objectives. These challenges include:
1. Instability in Afghanistan
Afghanistan shares borders with six SCO member states. Instability in Afghanistan has throttled members’ ambitions for regional transit and trade. For instance, the Pakistan-Afghanistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) has not been fully implemented due to recurring instability in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. Furthermore, there is no consensus regarding the recognition of the Taliban’s Government with India taking an opposing stance over the rest of the bloc.
2. Curse of the Three Evils
Extremist ideologies such as the Hindutva ideology, separatist tendencies-Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF), East Turkmenistan Liberation Movement (ETLM), and terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) pose a threat to SCO’s objectives of rooting out the axis of evil.
3. Lack of Democratic Governments
The SCO has often been criticized as a club of authoritarian regimes, serving as a forum where Russia and China can normalize their aggressive posturing, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea and toward Taiwan. However, this view has been challenged through the inclusion of India, the world’s largest democracy.
“The SCO was created to promote authoritarian norms in Central Asia.”
– Thomas Ambrosio
4. Economic Meltdown and Sanctions
Some of the SCO member states face huge external loans and weak economic conditions coupled with economic sanctions by Western countries such as Pakistan and Iran. Owing to Western sanctions, the Iran-Pakistan Gas Pipeline has been stalled since it was signed in March 2010.
5. Risk of Hegemony by China
Few countries in the SCO also harbor concerns about Beijing’s strategy and potential Chinese financial dominance. For instance, India has slapped duties on Chinese products to protect domestic industries.
6. Territorial Disputes
India’s unilateral actions in Kashmir, the India-China border conflicts, and the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border hostilities are grave challenges to multilateral cooperation in the region.
7. Divergence of Interest
Member states have diverse interests. It goes without saying that with such a diverse membership, it’s difficult to get anything off the ground. For instance, India is part of SCO, which China dominates, and Western strategic blocs formed to contain China’s rise.
8. Lack of Proper Institutional Structure
Despite regular annual summits, SCO faces challenges in building effective institutional structures that could help to ensure policy coordination and implementation.
9. Western Criticism and Skepticism
It is also often misconstrued by Western experts as Eastern NATO because of its sheer economic and strategic prowess.
Importance of SCO for Pakistan
Pakistan turned its misfortune into its greatest asset by joining SCO as a member state in 2017. The organization has great significance in promoting Pakistan’s goals for regional connectivity, economic revival, and security. Moreover, Pakistan also reels from all three evils-terrorism, separatism, and extremism.
First, cooperation with the Regional Anti-Terror Structure (RATS) and member states could help Pakistan reign in social evils emanating from terror networks, separatist organizations, and extremist groups. Secondly, Pakistan has been facing an acute economic crisis characterized by slow growth and a burgeoning external debt. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), trade, and low-credit loans from SCO could help Pakistan to stabilize its economy. In this regard, SCO Development Bank could be prudently tapped to relieve the impinging burden of the debt trap by diversifying access to international credit.
In addition, SCO is a rare platform offering Pakistan diplomatic leverage to foster its economic, political, and strategic relations with energy-rich countries of central Asia. Pakistan’s energy crisis could be overcome through the SCO Energy Club and bilateral energy agreements such as the Iran-Pakistan Peace Pipeline and the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline. Pakistan’s geographical location is ideal for constructing an energy corridor connecting South Asia with Central Asia. Thus, the state can resolve its energy crisis and position itself as a key player in the region’s development while strengthening its relations with CARs. Moreover, Pakistan’s strategic importance has been realized by SCO as Pakistan has become an integral part of projects such as CPEC and BRI.
However, despite opportunities offered by SCO, Pakistan is concerned about India’s ambitions to politicize the organization for political point scoring. Pakistan’s diplomatic engagement with its neighboring states is vital for SCO’s stability because the friction between neighboring states could halt major projects involving the entire region. For instance, India has raised bizarre objections to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) claiming that the mega project passes through the disputed territory of Gilgit-Baltistan.
Pakistan has serious apprehensions regarding India’s ambitions to turn SCO into another dysfunctional organization such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) thus jeopardizing its political, economic, and strategic efficacy. For instance, India’s Minister for External Affairs, S. Jaishankar accused Pakistan’s Foreign Minister of being “a spokesperson of the terrorism industry” during the SCO Summit held in 2023 indicating its political goals to isolate and downplay Pakistan within the SCO bloc.
Conclusion and Recommendations
SCO member states have a long way to go in meeting their objectives. They must manage conflicts and resolve bilateral issues through dialogues and peaceful channels. India and Pakistan, two quarreling neighbors, could use good offices of SCO, facilitated by states such as China and Russia to resolve outstanding territorial disputes such as Kashmir. Open communication and coordination are required to root out terrorist groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) which pose grave security threats to economic and economic projects in the region. Moreover, SCO needs to eliminate terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including state terrorism inflicted by the BJP government against minorities, as could be seen by the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2019.
In this regard, it is pertinent to mobilize RATS to fight against transnational terrorist groups. Furthermore, a consensus needs to be built to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan and extend humanitarian aid to its impoverished population especially women who are facing the brunt under the Taliban. Lastly, SCO member states should work together to counter unfair Western domination in international organizations such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
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